This post is just dork stuff from the Game of Thrones panel at Comic-Con, which is to say it’s life-affirming and amazing and I never want to stop talking about Game of Thrones. I’m just including lots of Pedro Pascal photos from Comic-Con, because he’s BOSS and I love that he came out for the GoT panel even though (spoiler) he’s dead. A lot of GoT castmembers were there, including Jamie Lannister (I’m not spelling his real name), Ayra Stark, Kit Harington, Gwendolyne Christie and more. But everybody wanted a piece of Pedro. Of course they did. LOOK AT HIM. He is dreamy.
Anyway, a bunch of new stuff/information debuted at Comic-Con. We know for sure that Dorne is going to play a big part in Season 5, and a bunch of Oberyn Martell’s relatives will be introduced. I’m looking forward to seeing Alexander Siddig as Doran Martell, Oberyn’s older brother. Also, Keisha Castle-Hughes is one of Oberyn’s daughters!!! One of the biggest “gets” for Game of Thrones is the casting for “the High Sparrow,” who will be some kind of major religious figure in King’s Landing. The High Sparrow will be played by Jonathan Pryce. I LOVE JONATHAN PRYCE. Here’s a little introductory video on the new castmembers:
Very cute. I love it when the actors seem to geek out on the GoT material. That’s why I enjoyed that Sean Bean interview – Bean is still a fan of the show, he still cares about those characters and how the story is told and he would love to come back. It feels like the new cast members feel like they just won the lottery too.
And here’s a blooper reel for Season 4. Charles Dance is so funny. So is Dinklage!
Photos courtesy of Twitter, Instagram & Getty.
Jon Snow, man… so cute. Looking forward to Season 5.
All I see is short and constipated looking.
Commence with the “you know nothing” jokes.
Don’t be ridiculous, he’s Jon Snow, he’s f***ing hot! 😉
I find him adorable. He always looks on the brink of tears, and it makes me want to mother him – not have sex with him.
Jon Snow is cute. But Pedro Pascal, Nikolaj Coster Waldau, Richard Madden and now Alexander Siddig are HOT.
OMG, there were sooo many Jon Snow look-a-likes at Comicon. Well, some not so convincing and others completely head turning (and an army of Khaleesi’s dressed in first season slutiness rather than 4th season badass. Go figure).
Um, why would Alexander Siddig do a semi-interview on a First Great Western train with people walking by??? huh? funny by strange!
Aww, so cute and I don’t watch the show.
I need to hurry and finish the books so I can be ready for season 5!
I am… interested…. by Keisha Castle-Hughes as Obara. As far as I could tell as she was written, she always struck me as looking more like a Ronda Rousey/Gina Carano type as opposed to tiny assassin type. Keisha will definitely have to up her game for “Game of Thrones”. I personally wasn’t a massive fan of her on “The Almighty Johnson’s” and “Whale Rider” was a very very very long time ago.
Am absolutely thrilled by everyone else.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS BUT WILL TRY TO BE AS OBTUSE AS POSSIBLE……….
For any book readers out there S – casting of Jonathan Pryce could confirm the High Sparrow theory, right? Have a look at the photos side by side. I think it’s pretty uncanny.
I’m a book reader and I can’t figure out what theory you’re referring to with the a High Sparrow! Pleeeease, do tell! Is it the H.R. one?
Me too.
And here I was thinking I was so clever 😛 yup, I meant High Septon = H.R
Ha, this is the first I’ve heard of that theory!
I don’t know if the casting is evidence, though it brings up the excellent question: where is HR? Ned’s most loyal and trusted friend, the land in epic turmoil, and he’s absolutely nowhere to be found.
I’m very much hoping that particular theory is true because if there is one thing Game of Thrones does well, it’s characters from opposite ends of a spectrum (political/familial etc. etc.) sniping at each other. I’d love to see Jonathan Pryce get to chew on some big meaty bits of dialogue and know that there’s all this undercurrent of subterfuge.
I can’ t even put in words how much I love Pedro Pascal. I wanna have his babies. There, I said it.
I’m with you…..LOVE PEDRO
I’m not sure if part of what I see in him is related to the fact that there’s no way the author did not have Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya in mind when writing the character. It was almost more than my poor heart could bear, when he held up that torch and said, “I will be your champion”!
Oh, that line. I could die. I just wish they would have recasted him as another Mortell–even right another brother or a twin, something! I mean, I’ll overlook any sense of disbelief just to have him back on the screen. So sexy and one of the few decent characters. And he HAD the Mountain but just had to go Inigo Montoyo on him. *sobs*
No Arianne Martell, no care.
I was upset to see that she is most likely not going to make the show. Such a huge omission on their part. I am guessing that Keisha Castle-Hughes’ character and Trystane Martell will probably take on aspects of her storyline.
No joke, my boyfriend looks exactly like an (Eastern European) version of Pedro. I didnt notice until it was pointed out to me, but it made a lot more sense as to why I was obsessed with that character, I live with his twin.
I loved Emilia in that little video. “I’m a Khaleesi not a queen, fucking say it mate” You tell him, girl! I have a friend who calls her Kelly C.
I’m so so so excitedfor season 5, even though I will miss Pedro forever!
The Sand Snakes!!!
It’s totally because I dated a guy that looks like him but I would hit Jon Snow harder than hell.
Dr Bashir in GoT? Oh the feels. The feels.
SO excited for this. Just finished DS9 not too long ago on netflix, so I kind of screamed when I saw that he was joining Game of Thrones haha. Good ol’ Dr. Bashir!
????
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pascal looks like kind of a dork in the few red carpet photos of him, but in all of the candids he looks like he’s the most fun! And SO cute. The whole GOT cast looks like they have a great time together.
Also, it sounds like HBO has cracked the whip with GRRM – no more writing episodes, no more casting involvement, no extra trips added to his schedule. He’s been so stubborn about it for years at this point, it must have taken a lot to pin him down like this. HBO must have given him a hard ‘no’ about his suggestion about adding in a prequel season to give more time, or expand books 4 and 5 into two seasons each. Even so, it’ll take an unprecedented creative binge for him to catch up. It’ll be interesting to see what the show does.
I don’t think it was HBO who cracked the whip. I think it might have been Martin’s book editors who did. GRRM has not been involved with casting at least since season 2 and makes it sound like it was his decision not to write an episode for series 5 so he can work on the book. GRRM does say that he does not write when he travels and it seems like his travel for the show is limited to Comic Con, the Emmys and the premieres.
No matter what though, the showrunners are planning for 7 seasons. Martin is not going to have the series completed by the time the show ends.
You are right, HBO has refuted his suggestions about a prequal season, expanding the seasons that would cover books 4 and 5 and movies. I do see the show taking more creative license with the story as time goes on, they are going to have to do so. As evidenced by the fact that Arianne Martell is not going to be on the series and her role will most likely be covered by her brother Trystane and the Sand Snakes (whose number have been reduced for the series, I think there were 7 or 8 of them in the books). As GRRM said in a Comic Con interview, the show is the show and the books are the books and they are two different ways of a telling the story. The show will not inform his future plans for characters in the books (i.e. No Arianne Martell in the show does not mean she will not have an important part to play in the future books. He also confirmed that Robb Stark’s wife in the books will be seen in the prologue of Winds of Winter in some capacity).
If his editors were able to crack the whip, don’t you think they would have by now? And GRRM’s issue (aside from the massive writer’s block) is that he didn’t limit his travel to just those few events you mentioned. He attended pretty much every major Convention around, all over the world. In addition to his several side projects like The Hedge Knight and those Wild Card books. He contributes, he guest edits, he does what can seem like everything BUT write GOT. There is no doubt that a whip has been cracked.
And yes, the show is the show and the book is the book, but while details are changed (a tertiary character like Westerling is changed, a Dothraki rider is killed that lived in the book) the show has truly deviated from the major plot. The fates of the POV characters remains the same, all of the major deaths have happened – and to be honest, I don’t get why Ariadne’s exclusion is such a big deal. They’re probably going to roll her story into Obara’s and it’s not like Ariadne herself was a particularly important character. They still have to rush because the kids are getting older, quickly (hence HBO’s stance on “it was always only going to be 7 seasons) but you can bet that the general direction of the series will still mirror the books, including the unpublished material. And this will probably drive up viewership for seasons 6 and 7, so that will work out well for HBO as long as they dont screw it up.
I’m confused about the new character named Nymeria. Isn’t that the name of Arya’s direwolf?
It is. Nymeria is the name of an old warrior queen in the series, I believe.
That makes sense. I haven’t read the books (yet) and took on the task of tackling all four seasons a couple of months ago. Very challenging and easy to become almost obsessed with.
Yes. But Martin makes it a point to reuse names in the series. There are several Brans, Jons, etc. in the books.
Okay, so I haven’t read the latter books and I know all of the younger characters are aged a couple of years but… doesn’t Myrcella look a bit old? If I’m not mistaken she’s supposed to be Arya’s age – but she looks older than Sansa. And she looks kinda generic, too. Myrcella is supposed to be a total stunner. But the wardrobe and makeup can change my opinion on this.
Nymeria was originally the name of a Targaryen warrior queen, so her name is recycled for badass/feisty types.
The original actress who played Myrcella in a supporting role in Season 1 and 2 is actually older than the new Myrcella. I think we can throw comparisons between character ages in the books and character ages in the show out the window.
I’m happy with the casting we’ve got so far, but I’m also incredibly sad that Arianne is not in it. She is one of the few true feminists in the books.
That Pedro guy needs to groom his mustache or shave it off. It’s gross.
Alexander Siddig AND Jonathan Pryce!!! Hoo-weeee! I love both of them. I’ve been a fan of Pryce’s since I saw him in Something Wicked This Way Comes!
I loved Pedro! He was my favourite character this season, his acting was amazing. I hope many more good roles come his way.
you missed the photo of Pascal holding a Sailor Moon toy. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BtZrYqNIIAAICrd.png:large
You’re all welcome!
I just want Pascale to hang around as, like, a GOT mascot or something.
It was bad enough when he died in the books. I adored his character and I was so disappointed to see him go. But Pedro Pascale is just so cool and funny that I never want him to leave. He doesn’t even have to be Oberyn! Can’t he be, like, Oberyn’s secret twin? If there can be secret Targs there can be secret Oberyn twins goddamnit.